As state lawmakers continue hashing out a marijuana legalization bill, the list of towns in New Jersey saying no to legal weed just keeps growing.
There are now nearly 40 municipalities across the state that have either banned marijuana businesses or officially voiced opposition to legal weed.

“My job is to represent the people of Jacksonville Beach and as I mentioned during the council meeting, 81 percent of the people may have voted for medical marijuana. But it wasn’t 81 percent of Jacksonville Beach residents looking to put a dispensary in Jacksonville Beach,” Mayor Charlie Latham said.
#NotInMyBackyard

City leaders felt treating dispensaries as they do pharmacies would allow them across large swaths of the city, so they voted to outright ban them until planners could devise an alternative. City leaders got their first glimpse at that alternative Monday night and unanimously endorsed a plan to craft rules that they call a kind of “middle ground” between the ban and current pharmacy rules.

Council members cite lack of local control as reason. The city of Venice will ban medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits, because current state statutes do not allow any form of local regulation above those placed on pharmacies.
In moving toward prohibiting dispensaries, Venice joins the city of Sarasota and town of Longboat Key, though Sarasota is looking to modify its approach that would treat dispensaries the same as stand-alone pharmacies.

Kentucky's ban on medical marijuana has survived an initial test in court, with a judge ruling Wednesday that the state has a good reason to "curtail citizens' possession of a narcotic, hallucinogenic drug."

Kentucky's ban on medical marijuana has survived an initial test in court, with a judge ruling Wednesday that the state has a good reason to "curtail citizens' possession of a narcotic, hallucinogenic drug."

“There are too many unknowns,” said Commissioner Tambra Varnadore. “I don’t have a problem with the use of it, but there are so many rumors out there that it would be potentially abused, so I would rather wait. I feel if our citizens need one, then we can deal with it down the road.”

"It's tied our hands in my opinion," said Commissioner Penny Taylor, who said she wants to ban dispensaries from Collier County. "It's just the lack of local control. We have certainly the folks that need this for their illness, but we have the whole community at large to think about. That’s the big picture."

"I think it's really important to remember that marijuana of any kind is illegal under federal law," Board Chairwoman Dianne Jacob said. "There have been comments made by the new administration in Washington that signs may point to action being taken in the near future to support federal law."